SANTA ANA, Calif. --- Authorities on Friday arrested a friend in the killing of a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student whose body was found buried in a shallow grave at a California park. Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, of Newport Beach was taken into custody for investigation of homicide after DNA evidence linked him to the death of college sophomore Blaze Bernstein, Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said. Woodward was the last person to see Bernstein alive, Barnes said. Woodward was interviewed by investigators after Bernstein was reported missing by his parents on Jan. 3. A sheriff's investigator wrote in court filings that Woodward appeared nervous, had scr...Keep on reading: Authorities arrest friend in death of U Penn student.....»»

SANTA ANA, Calif. --- Authorities on Friday arrested a friend in the killing of a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student whose body was found buried in a shallow grave at a California park. Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, of Newport Beach was taken into custody for investigation of homicide after DNA evidence linked him to the death of college sophomore Blaze Bernstein, Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said. Woodward was the last person to see Bernstein alive, Barnes said. Woodward was interviewed by investigators after Bernstein was reported missing by his parents on Jan. 3. A sheriff's investigator wrote in court filings that Woodward appeared nervous, had scr...Keep on reading: Authorities arrest friend in death of U Penn student.....»»

In the psychological thriller "You," which will be streamed on Netflix starting Dec. 26, the romance that blossoms between bookstore manager Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and student Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) would have been the stuff that fairy tales are made of if not for one little-known detail---Joe stalks Beck when he isn't trying to sweep her off her feet! Beck, a Literature major and aspiring poet in New York, is out of Joe's league. She may neither be as popular nor as rich as the trio of affluent BFFs she parties with, but her "little-girl-lost" appeal makes her self-entitled best friend Peach (Shay Mitchell) feel smugly superior. Beck is the "charity cas...Keep on reading: Love knows no limits.....»»

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) --- A Turkish official says Sean Penn is in Turkey working on a documentary about the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkey's president, tells The Associated Press on Thursday that the two-time Oscar winner interviewed him in Ankara as part of his "preliminary preparations" for the documentary before leaving for Istanbul where he was due to meet with Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee. The Washington Post columnist who was critical of the Saudi crown prince was killed by Saudi agents on Oct. 2 after arriving to handle routine paperwork. Aktay, who was a friend of Khashoggi's, was the first to ale...Keep on reading: Sean Penn working on documentary on Saudi journalist’s death.....»»

TALLAHASSEE, Florida --- Two people were shot to death and five others wounded at a yoga studio in Florida's capital by a gunman who then killed himself, authorities said. The two slain Friday included a student and faculty member at Florida State University, according to university officials. Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo told reporters Friday night that the man shot six people and pistol-whipped another after walking into the studio, which is part of a small Tallahassee shopping center. The suspect then fatally shot himself, DeLeo said. Early Saturday morning, the Tallahassee Police Department identified the shooter as Scott Paul Beierle, 40. The department ...Keep on reading: Police search for motive in Florida yoga studio slayings.....»»

He went to the hospital on Sunday only for an executive checkup, but doctors no longer allowed veteran singer Rico J. Puno to go home. Rico eventually died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning. He was 65. The singer underwent a procedure to implant a pacemaker in his heart on Oct. 26 at St. Luke's Medical Center in Global City, Taguig. The executive checkup was scheduled three days later, according to his friend and former manager Norma Japitana. "There were other complications, but doctors said the cause of his death was cardiac arrest (at 1:56 a.m.)," she told the Inquirer on Tuesday afternoon. "They tried to revive him---this las...Keep on reading: Final curtain call for the Total Entertainer Rico J.....»»

BROOKLYN, Iowa --- The father of slain Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts in an opinion piece spoke out against using his daughter's death in support of "views she believed were profoundly racist," a call that comes after President Donald Trump and others seized on the suspected killer's immigration status to argue for changes in U.S. immigration laws. Authorities have said the University of Iowa student was abducted while she was out for an evening run in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18. The man charged in her death, 24-year-old , a Mexican farmworker who is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Trump and other politicians quickly noted that element of the caseand called for cha...Keep on reading: Slain woman’s dad: Don’t use her death to promote racism.....»»

A CRIMINOLOGY student and his friend were arrested for allegedly locking up three kids inside a dark comfort room as punishment for being noisy during a basketball game in Malabon City. Malabon city police chief Senior Supt. Harry Espela ordered the arrest of Reynaldo Cruz, 27, criminology student and resident….....»»

A criminology student and his friend found themselves in deep trouble after they allegedly locked up three kids inside a comfort room on Thursday in Malabon City. Responding to the complaint lodged by the children’s parents, city police chief Senior Supt. Harry Espela ordered the arrest of Reynaldo Cruz, 27, criminology student, and Ernesto Tamundono, […].....»»

ROQUE: MERE PROCESS TO DETERMINE BASIS President Duterte intends to defend himself, “if need be,” on the crimes against humanity charges that his opponents filed against him before The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), presidential spokesman Harry Roque said yesterday. Roque, an international law expert, explained that the ICC’s recognition was simply a proceeding to determine if the case has basis to proceed or not.Roque said Malacañang has received ICC’s notice for a “preliminary examination” on the complaints filed by the lawyer of self-confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) assassin Edgar Matobato, who is under the care of Duterte’s chief critic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.Roque said the 72-year-old Chief Executive is ready to submit himself before the proceedings once he is summoned to The Hague.“The President and I met about this extensively for two hours last night. The President welcomes the preliminary examination because he is sick and tired of being accused,” Roque told reporters. “Obviously, this is intended to embarrass the president. They will fail. The President said that if need be, he will argue his case before the ICC,” he added.Matobato’s counsel Jude Sabio, in April last year, submitted to the ICC a petition against Mr. Duterte on the basis of his apparent admission of “killing” suspected drug traffickers and criminals in Davao City when he was still its Mayor.By June, Trillanes and Magdalo Partylist Rep. Gary Alejano filed a supplemental complaint against the Chief Executive also at the ICC. The complaint is based on the series of extrajudicial killings attributed to the Duterte administration’s narcotics crackdown.Sabio, in a text message, claimed that the given development is already a victory on their end.“I feel so elated and vindicated. Finally, Mr. Duterte and his cohorts will face criminal investigation by the ICC prosecutor as a prelude to formal criminal investigation,” Sabio said. “It is a huge triumph toward justice. Duterte’s system of death squad killings that he continued in his war on drugs will be investigated and hopefully an arrest warrant will be issued against him and justice will be done,” he added.“I am confident that, based on my communication, as well as that of Sen. Trillanes’ and (Magdalo) Rep. (Gary) Alejano’s, we will hurdle this first big step, and hopefully a warrant of arrest will be issued soon by the ICC against Duterte and his cohorts,” he added. Critics overjoyedTrillanes, for his part, claimed that the ICC’s recognition of their complaint should remind Mr. Duterte that he is not above the law.“This development should jolt Duterte into realizing that he is not above the law. More importantly, this is the first step for the victims’ families’ quest for justice,” the senator said.But Roque said Trillanes and his group should not celebrate yet.“No one should claim victory… If they think the President has been indicted, they are so wrong,” he said.“There will be no formal investigation to be conducted in the country because at the level of the preliminary examination, where the Court does not include the budget for the prosecutor to come to the Philippines because it is not yet a preliminary investigation,” he said.“Now the objective is to determine if there is reasonable basis to proceed with the formal investigation,” he added.In Sabio’s complaint addressed to ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, he said that the international criminal court’s action “would... be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines.”“Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal jurisdiction, but where a State like the Philippines fails to assume such universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity continuously being committed in its very own territory, then the International Criminal Court will have to intervene into a situation that is grave by any human standard,” Sabio said.“The grim statistics of more than 7,000 drug-related killings cannot be anything but grave, especially if viewed in the context of just seven months since Rodrigo Duterte became the President, compared to only about 3,000 committed during the 20-year Marcos regime. These more than 7,000 drug-related killings translate to roughly 1,000 killings per month,” he added.Two other opposition senators urged Malacañang, instead of criticizing this development, to deal with the issues being hurled at the President.“That shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the magnitude of deaths reaching thousands upon thousands in less than two years,” Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.“This is the chance for the government to answer the accusations raised against them. There is no reason to be afraid if the administration is not hiding anything,” Sen. Bam Aquino said.Aquino said this should be a welcome opportunity for the administration to make their case to an unbiased and globally respected tribunal. Villarin wants Roque charged, tooAkbayan Rep Tom Villarin said the entry of the ICC into the issues raised against Duterte gives hope to the thousands killed under the latter’s war on drugs. “It is a welcome development and gives hope to thousands of EJK (extra judicial killings) victims that finally justice will be served,” Villarin said.“This will also hold President Duterte and other top officials involved in the bloody war against drugs accountable as well as it gives us an opportunity to implead other enablers of EJKs, including possibly Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque,” Villarin added.While the Akbayan lawmaker said that the investigation may not lead to Duterte’s puster, he said that it will be damning and damaging to his administration in the eyes of our people and the international community.“I am hopeful that people will now realize the truth and demand accountability from him with all constitutional options available,” Villarin said.Alejano said that the preliminary examination will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation. “I hope that the preliminary examination will be allowed to carry on – unhindered and with full cooperation from concerned authorities, organizations, and personalities,” Alejano, one of those who brought the EJK issue before the ICC, said.“I am confident on the communication we sent to the ICC and strongly believe that President Duterte and those who perpetuate and defend this policy of killing should be held accountable before the law,” Alejano said. Angie M. Rosales, Gerry Baldo.....»»

An American cameraman and filmmaker who died in December in a jail in Cebu suffered blunt-force trauma, and his body had markings inconsistent with the official account by the authorities that he hanged himself, a private US pathologist said. The findings raised new questions about the death of Jesse Phinney. Law enforcement officials there said they found the 42-year-old Boston native hanging in the bathroom of a detention facility where he was being held on Dec. 5, and declared it a suicide. Phinney's family, suspecting foul play and believing he was incapable of the alleged crimes that prompted his arrest, hired a Providence, Rhode Island-based f...Keep on reading: US pathologist doubts American’s ‘suicide’ in Cebu jail.....»»

HONOLULU -- The FBI is investigating the local chapter of Apollo Quiboloy's controversial church for aggressive fundraising in Hawaii and possible human trafficking, says a Hawaii news site. The investigation is focused on the church's business manager, Felina Salinas, who was arrested by federal authorities last month on allegations of trying to smuggle $350,000 in cash out of the U.S., according to a report by Hawaii News Now. Salinas was arrested on a plane leased by Quiboloy, a Filipino televangelist and friend of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. Shortly after Salinas' arrest, an agent from the FBI's Los Angeles office spent several days here pursuing the trafficking ...Keep on reading: FBI investigating Quiboloy’s Hawaii church for human trafficking.....»»

The parents of the 10 Aegis Juris fraternity members charged with the hazing death of University of Santo Tomas law student Horatio "Atio" Castillo III will file criminal and administrative charges against some Manila police officers for allegedly forcibly entering one of the suspects' house. In a letter addressed to National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran, the parents claimed that several policemen barged into Ralph Trangia's house on March 22 in an attempt to implement the arrest warrant issued by a Manila judge. Along with Arvin Balag, Oliver John Onofre, Mhin Wei Chan, Axel Munro Hipe, Juan Miguel Salamat, John Robin Ramos, Danielle Hans Matthew Rodrigo, Joshua ...Keep on reading: Hazing suspects’ parents eye lawsuit vs Manila cops.....»»

TEN members of the Aegis Juris fraternity allegedly involved in the hazing death of a freshman law student from the University of Santo Tomas surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday. The Manila Regional Trial Court Brach 40 issued a warrant of arrest against the 10 on Thursday. Their surrender pre-empted a [...] The post 10 suspects in Castillo hazing slay surrender to NBI appeared first on The Manila Times Online......»»

Mexican authorities are preparing to arrest dozens of people implicated in the kidnapping and alleged murder of 43 student teachers in southern Mexico more than three years ago, the prosecutor in charge of the case said on Friday......»»

At least 30 Aegis Juris fraternity members who have been subpoenaed by the Senate, which will resume today its hearing on the hazing death of University of Santo Tomas freshman law student Horacio "Atio" Castillo III, face arrest if they fail to attend. Sen. Panfilo Lacson issued the warning on Sunday, adding that those who refused to acknowledge receipt of the subpoenas, which were served to them in their home or office, would also face arrest. The Senate committees on public order and dangerous drugs, as well as justice and constitutional amendments will hold today its third hearing on the case of Castillo who died on Sept. 17 due to hazing injuries. Expected to testify was Ma...Keep on reading: Lacson to frat members: Attend hearing or else ….....»»

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MANILA, Philippines – The death of teenage student Kian Delos Santos should be a "wake-up call" for government, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Caloocan City said on Saturday, August 26.
“In this Mass, we would like to cry out to the authorities in government: Enough with the killings! Stop the killings, ........»»

Malaysian police have detained a second woman in connection with the apparent assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The Malaysian inspector general said in a statement that the suspect had been identified as Siti Aishah, an Indonesian national. Her birthday was given as 11 February 1992, and place of birth as Serang, Indonesia. It is not clear if her passport was genuine. The statement said she had been positively identified from CCTV footage at Kuala Lumpur international airport and was alone when she was apprehended in the early hours of Thursday. Channel News Asia quoted a police source as saying that a Malaysian man had also been arrested on Thursday in connection with Kim’s death. The confirmed arrest of a second suspect follows the detention on Wednesday of 28-year-old woman, whose Vietnamese passport bore the name Doan Thi Huong. She too had been positively identified from CCTV footage and was alone at the time of her arrest, the inspector general said. Still photos from the video, confirmed as authentic by police, showed a woman in a skirt and long-sleeved white T-shirt with “LOL” emblazoned across the front. Malaysian police have reportedly been granted permission to remand both women in custody for seven days. Police are also seeking “a few” other suspects in connection with the killing of Kim Jong-nam, apparently carried out with a fast-acting poison, as he prepared to board a flight from Kuala Lumpur to his home in Macau on Monday morning. “We are looking for more suspects,” Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said, but declined to say how many were being sought, or their nationalities. Intelligence officials in South Korea have said they suspect Kim’s killing was carried out by people working on behalf of the North Korean regime. There is mounting speculation that his death was ordered by Kim Jong-un, possibly as retribution for criticisms his elder brother made against his leadership in interviews with the Japanese journalist, Yoji Gomi, in 2012. As Malaysian authorities searched for other suspects in a case that has focused attention on the apparent lengths to which North Korea will go to ensure the regime’s stability. Malaysian media cited unnamed sources as saying that North Korean officials had spent hours trying to persuade Malaysia not to conduct an autopsy and for Kim’s body be handed over to Pyongyang. Malaysia refused the request, since North Korea did not submit a formal protest, according to Abdul Samah Mat, a senior Malaysian police official. No decision has yet been taken on whether the body will eventually be handed over to the North. While Pyongyang has made no official comment on Kim’s death, it has not attempted to conceal its interest in his fate. On Wednesday, it sent a black Jaguar car with diplomatic number plates and flags to the mortuary at Kuala Lumpur hospital, where an autopsy was conducted on Wednesday evening. It was not immediately clear if or when the autopsy results would be made public. Kim, who was 45, fell ill after apparently being attacked from behind with a chemical spray, and died in an ambulance on the way to hospital. At the time of his death he was carrying a North Korean passport that gave his name as Kim Chol, born in Pyongyang on 10 June 1970. His death has parked speculation about the possible involvement of Kim Jong-un, whose five-year rule of North Korea has been marked by purges and executions of people perceived as a threat to his leadership. The highest-profile victim of Kim’s “reign of terror” was his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who was executed on treason charges in late 2013. Jang, once considered his nephew’s most trusted adviser, was also believed to have been close to Kim Jong-nam, whom he had helped raise. Kim Jong-nam attempted to lead an unremarkable life with his family in Macau, according to exchanges with Gomi. “Because I was educated in the west, I was able to enjoy freedom from early age and I still love being free,” he told Gomi, whose book on Kim was published in 2012. “The reason I visit Macau so often is because it’s the most free and liberal place near China, where my family lives.” Kim Byung-kee, a South Korean MP, said intelligence services had told him Kim Jong-un professed to “hate” his half brother, whom he feared could one day play a role in the overthrow of his regime. The spy agency’s has also made unverified claims that North Korea had spent five years attempting to kill Kim Jong-nam. They cited a “genuine” attempt in 2012 after he had described his brother as ”just a nominal figure”, and lambasted the county’s hereditary transfer of power as a “joke to the outside world”. “The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long,” he told Gomi. “Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse.” A terrified Kim is reported to have written to Kim Kong-un after the 2012 assassination attempt in which he pleaded with his brother to assure his safety and that of his family. The letter said: “I hope you cancel the order for the punishment of me and my family. We have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and we know that the only way to escape is committing suicide.” Kim Jong-nam may have succeeded his father, Kim [&'].....»»

The death toll from a fiery explosion in central Mexico rose to 79 on Sunday as authorities vowed to hold accountable those responsible for a fuel-line leak that drew hundreds of people looking to gather gasoline. The search for remains at the site of the explosion in the state of Hidalgo ended late Saturday but […].....»»

MANILA, Philippines --- A former ranking government official of Taiwan, who becomes a fugitive from the law because of a pending case of fraud in Taiwan, was arrested in Subic, Zambales, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Friday. Wu Chien Pao, 60, former speaker of Tainan Country in Taiwan, was declared an undocumented alien by the BI, making him the subject of an arrest operation by the BI's Fugitive Search Unit (FSU). In a report submitted to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, the BI's FSU agents along with Taiwan Police Attach Jerry Wang and authorities from the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested Pao along Greyback Drive Kalayaan...Keep on reading: BI agents nab ex-Taiwan gov’t exec who turned fugitive in Subic.....»»